


the visitor

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [69]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Cliffhanger, Collab Week, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 03:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: During Leo’s recovery, he’s confronted with a familiar face.Unfinished, for the ‘Cliffhanger’ prompt in Collab Week!





	the visitor

Doctor Morrow had been into his room that morning, running a number of tests, most of which seemed to comprise of a series of annoying beeping noises. Leo wasn’t sure what she had been hoping to find, or whether or not she’d been successful. It was always difficult to tell what she was thinking. In some ways, she reminded him of Niska, who often chose to circumscribe her facial expressions, giving away only the smallest cues she was barely aware she was presenting.

Since Athena had left, though, everything had been quiet. He knew Max, Mattie and Mia were holding a Synth Rights rally in town this weekend, so he hadn’t really been expecting any of them to visit. Niska was back in Germany, and often phoned him now that his speech was better, but that usually didn’t happen until evening.

In the absence of other diversions, Leo had done his exercises, coaxing the muscles in his hands and arms into working for him rather than against him, building up some of the strength he’d lost. It seemed ridiculous, but after a few minutes of exertion, he was tired out. It all took so much effort. Few things were automatic these days - he had to suggest every movement to his fingers in detail, before they would try and act out the motion. This would get better, Athena had told him, they would learn to move on their own again. It was just a matter of time.

Time. He had a lot of that these days. Too much. The recuperation period was seemingly unending, and made all the worse by the knowledge that the world was moving so fast outside those four walls, that his family and friends were having to cope with countless new obstacles and dangers every day. In a way, it was his fault. If he’d just used the program on Hester the first chance he’d got, they’d never have woken all the synths at once in order to save Mia. The world wouldn’t be tearing itself apart.

Hester would still be dead, though.

It was difficult to think about her. So immensely strong yet so fragile, so sceptical yet so naive - capable of such tenderness, yet so much violence. She was contradiction. Perhaps, in a way, Leo had been drawn to that. He had lived life in two halves for almost a decade, after all.

Some of his memories of Hester were gone completely, others were reduced to vague impressions. The few that had not been tarnished at all shone like bright, smooth stones in a rock pool, shimmering there, the reflections rippling prettily when he tried to touch them. They were intact, but untouchable. Something in his brain did not want them replayed.

He wasn’t sure he blamed it, really.

Leo closed his eyes. The metal clamp he was supposed to squeeze together twenty times still rested in his hand, abandoned halfway through the last of his exercises. He would complete it later, maybe. For now he just wanted to sleep.

When he next surfaced, the colours in the room had changed. A curtain had been drawn, and a lamp turned on. Someone had been here. No, someone was still here, standing over by the wall. With his head at this angle, Leo could make out a dark shape. The person didn’t seem to be looking at him - hadn’t noticed that he was awake. He shifted very slightly to get a proper look.

His eyes widened, his breath disappearing in a gasp before he replenished it enough to impart one impossible, unutterable syllable:

“ _Dad_?”

**Author's Note:**

> This story was continued by turned-her-brain under the etitle “Past Imperfect”, so please track it down if you want to read more!


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